The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds’ obstruction of justice conviction dating back to testimony he gave to a grand jury in 2003. 

 

UPDATE: Friday, Sept. 13, at 11:35 p.m. ET

Bonds offered a response on his website:

First and foremost I would like to thank my family, especially my children for their unyielding support and courage during this process. I would also like to thank my friends, fans and all of you who have supported me throughout my baseball career and during the past several years. Naturally, I am disappointed with today’s decision from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But this disappointment does not in any way diminish the profound respect and admiration I have for our justice system, the best in the world. Therefore, I have instructed my attorneys to ask the court and probation officials to permit me to begin serving my full sentence and probation immediately. Meanwhile, I also intend to seek further judicial review of the important legal issues presented by the appeal that was decided today. I would like to thank the judges and all of the hard working men and women of the 9th Circuit for the difficult work they do on behalf of our judicial system. Additionally, I want to thank my legal team for their dedication, hard work and tireless advocacy on my behalf.

This has been a long and difficult chapter in my life and I look forward to moving beyond it once I have fulfilled the penalties ordered by the court.

I thank you all again, your prayers and support have given me strength.

—End of update—

 

Original Text

As the Associated Press reported, via ESPN, the federal appeals court ruled Friday that Bonds’ answer to questioning regarding former trainer Greg Anderson administering self-injecting performance-enhancing drugs to him was “misleading.”

Per the report:

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Bonds’ response to a question about whether his trainer, Greg Anderson, had ever given him any self-injectable substances was “evasive, misleading, and capable of influencing the grand jury to minimize the trainer’s role in the distribution of performance enhancing drugs.”

Bonds now faces 30-days’ home confinement, two years of probation, 250 hours of community service and a $4,000 fine.

ESPN’s T.J. Quinn made light of the home-confinement sentence on Twitter:

A federal jury first found Bonds guilty of obstruction of justice in April 2011. He was not convicted of a perjury charge that was also on the table.

The full transcript of Bonds’ testimony was first made available in 2008, over four years after he first told a U.S. grand jury that he used substances known as “the cream” and “the clear” during the 2003 season because Anderson convinced Bonds he was using a nutritional supplement for arthritis. 

In what is now known as the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) scandal, Bonds and several other high-profile athletes were indicted for their connection to Anderson, Victor Conte and Patrick Arnold. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig adopted a league-wide steroid policy in the wake of the controversy. 

The testimony in question is from those proceedings. 

Bonds originally tested positive for steroids in November 2000. In 2009, court documents revealed Bonds tested positive for three different types of steroids. A failed urine test was also revealed via testimony during Bonds’ 2011 hearing.

With 762 career home runs, Bonds holds one of MLB‘s most prestigious records. 

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